


The Hawklings

by Jake_Matthews



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Clint Barton Needs a Hug, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Pseudo-Cheating, Rare Pairings, Secrets, Shovel Talk, Sparring, Steve Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers is a little shit, Wanda Needs a Hug, a shit-ton of takeout
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-05-18 01:38:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5893108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jake_Matthews/pseuds/Jake_Matthews
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Clint have been dating for a few months, but Clint has yet to introduce Sam to some of the most important people in his life. People Sam doesn't even know exist yet. It's about time that changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Age of Ultron

Clint’s hand on Natasha’s shoulder as they walked towards the farmhouse looked to the others as if he was comforting her, when in actuality, he was seeking comfort from her. The Avengers were too close behind them to discuss the matter, for Clint to verbalise his internal freak out, but Natasha knew him well enough, and knew the situation they were walking into, that Clint didn’t need to say anything for her to understand. She stayed close by him as they walked, the tiniest changes in her body language conveying her sympathy to Clint. As well as the slight hint of ‘I told you so’ that Clint was rather glad she couldn’t verbalise yet.

“Honey, I’m home!” Clint winced, the old joke slipping from his tongue before he could consider how his present company might receive it. He could feel Cap frowning at his back, but he ignored it as he called out, “I brought company, I hope that’s okay…” He rounded the corner, and saw Laura standing by the kitchen, watching his approach with a raised eyebrow. Cap’s frown, still unseen by Clint, changed into a sharp glare as he added up the implications of ‘honey’ and the heavily pregnant woman standing before them. The glare only intensified when Clint stepped away from Natasha to hug Laura. Laura noticed the Captain’s glare and looked up at Clint sternly.

“I think you’d better explain things to your friends before they take their assumptions too far,” she murmured softly, but not soft enough to keep it from enhanced supersoldier ears. Steve forced himself to relax and hear Clint out. Clint turned back to his team, trying to put a smile on his face.

“Guys, this is Laura, my ex-wife…” He saw Steve’s eyes flick to Laura’s belly, and watched his calculating expression. Then he heard the patter of tiny feet, and couldn’t help but smile as Cooper and Lila came running in to greet them. He scooped Cooper up, and hugged Lila against his leg. He looked back to the Avengers, the smile on his face more genuine this time. “And these are our kids, Cooper and Lila.” Clint’s smile faltered as he met Steve’s stern gaze.

“Have you told Sam about this?” Clint winced at the tone in Steve’s voice.

“Not yet. He knows I used to be married, but… I’m getting to it, I swear.”

“You shouldn’t swear, Daddy, it’s _naughty_ ,” Cooper giggled from his seat in Clint’s arms, and Lila tugged on his sleeve.

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?”

“Well, why don’t you hug her and find out,” Natasha’s change in demeanour on interacting with Lila earned raised eyebrows and expressions of surprise from the other Avengers. After hugging Lila she approached Laura, asking, “And how’s little Natasha doing?”

“She’s… Nathaniel,” Laura apologised. Clint was quietly entertaining Cooper, trying to ignore Cap’s hard glare boring into his back. It wasn’t unreasonable for Cap to be assuming after that comment that this baby too was Clint’s. Wasn’t like he was wrong either. And given that, although they’d only officially gotten together six months ago, Sam and Clint had been dancing around the subject for several months before that, it was pretty clear that this baby was conceived _after_ Clint started falling for Sam, which Steve was well aware of. So Steve was well within his rights to glare, and Clint knew he had no defence. No excuse would make this okay.

Clint considered avoiding Steve for the duration of their stay on the farm, but a brief glance at Laura informed him that she wasn’t going to let him get away with that. So after Thor had left, while the other Avengers were freshening up and Nat was catching up with Laura, Clint allowed Steve to pull him away from his kids for a private chat.

“Alright, let’s get it over with then,” Clint muttered, leaning against the porch railing after turning to face Steve. He folded his arms, trying to look casual as he looked up at the stern figure looming over him.

“Why haven’t you told Sam about all this?” Clint bit his lip and shifted uncomfortably. Steve raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s a simple question, Barton. Why haven’t you told your _boyfriend_ that you’ve got kids? That your ex-wife is pregnant again? Why are you hiding this from someone who you insist means so much to you?!” Clint winced at the anger in Steve’s tone, and took a shaky breath. He met Steve’s eyes as he tried to assemble his response.

“I’m scared.” Steve raised his eyebrows at the murmur, but allowed Clint to continue. “I’m scared that he’ll freak out, that he’ll leave me, that he’ll flip out over the fact that I got Laura pregnant again even though I swore that my marriage was over, had been for years, that I had no interest in getting back with her… I did mention once that I’d… We were nowhere near actually being together at that point, but I felt so guilty that I fessed up anyway. But I didn’t say it was my ex-wife, I just told him…” Clint took another shaky breath, trying to steady himself. He brushed away the tears he hadn’t even realised were falling. “Fury, Coulson and Nat were the only people I’ve ever told about Laura. The only people at SHIELD who knew I had a family. I’ve never really had a relationship that lasted long enough… I love Sam, and I know I should tell him, but I’m just so scared…”

Watching Clint, seeing him break down like this, Steve let go of his anger and pulled the archer in for a hug. He could see Clint wasn’t trying to hurt Sam, that he was just afraid of getting hurt.

“Sam cares about you so much, Clint. He’s not going to leave you, not over this. But you do need to tell him. This is an important part of your life. He needs to be included in that.” Clint nodded against Steve’s chest, wiping at his eyes. Steve gave a slight chuckle. “Look at you. We just got beaten by a killer robot and a couple of super powered _kids_ and you were fine, yet here you are, scared to tears by the idea of your boyfriend leaving you.” Clint laughed weakly.

“I’m being silly, aren’t I?”

“Maybe a little. Maybe it’s good that you’re freaking out over this, shows you care… or something, I don’t know. Don’t come to me for relationship advice, kiddo. I may be almost 97, but I have a terrible track record when it comes to relationships.” He smile was forced, pained, and Clint looked up at him sympathetically. He wiped the last of the tears from his face, pushing away from Steve and standing on his own again.

“Thanks for that. After what happened, you should be one breaking down really.” Clint winced, tactless tongue betraying him as usual. “I mean, uh… D’you wanna talk about…? Or if you’d rather have some stress relief, we’ve got some wood needs chopping. Not quite a punching bag, but…”

“Sounds good.” Clint smiled and showed Steve where the wood and axe were before he went back inside to spend some more time with his kids.

Not long after his talk with Steve, Laura cornered her ex-husband. They were generally on good terms since the divorce, especially with the new baby on the way, but one look at the stern expression she wore and the placement of her hands on her hips had Clint quaking in his boots. It seemed he would be receiving more than the one lecture on this day.

“You haven’t told your boyfriend yet. Clint, he needs to know about all this. He’s your _boyfriend_. And pretty soon, you and me are gonna be outnumbered. I know you care about him a lot, but you need to know if he’s gonna be okay with this. If he’s willing to help us out. And if he’s not…” She trailed off, wincing as she realised what that sounded like. Before Clint could protest, she continued, “I’m not telling you to break up with him, but I need you to be around. I can’t do this by myself, and I don’t want to be fighting to get your time because you’re too scared to tell your boyfriend you have a family you need to be with. The kids need time with their dad, and you’ve always been great at that, even through all the missions you’ve been on, but if you can’t tell your boyfriend about them…”

“I’ll tell him. I promise Laura, I will tell Sam about this, all of it, as soon as the current crisis is over I’ll tell him.”

“You’d better, because once you’re finished resting, once you’ve regrouped and you head off to save the world again… I don’t want you coming back until you’ve told him.” Clint gaped, shocked by the ultimatum. But he knew he couldn’t argue, knew that doing so would imply he didn’t intend to keep his promise. So he swallowed, nodding numbly.

“Okay, I won’t come back, not until I’ve told him.” Laura smiled weakly. Then she sighed.

“Oh, Clint. Just make sure you do come back. You know, I see you out there, with those supersoldiers, and _Gods_ , and I just…”

“You think they don’t need me.”

“I think they do, which is a lot scarier.” She put her arms around him, and he leaned into her hug, slipping his arm around her waist. “Things must be pretty bad right now, Nat seems really shaken.”

Clint sighed. “Yeah, it’s tough on all of us right now. There’s these two, they’re new on the scene, and they’re just… just kids really… And they’re just so…” He grimaced, leaving his sentence unfinished. He sat there for some time, leaning his head against his ex-wife’s bump. She stroked his hair softly, soothing him.

\- - - - 

Clint was kicking himself. He had assumed that there was no way Pietro could possibly have survived that many bullet wounds, and doing so may have cost the young man’s life. Their transport, the last to leave the city, had landed on the Helicarrier, and as the people of Sokovia were directed off the transport, a med team had approached Clint. He had assured them he was alright, and one of them had knelt down next to Pietro. They hadn’t looked too hopeful, but then their eyes had flown wide.

“Holy _shit_ , this kid’s still alive!”

“What? How?” Clint had gasped. “Damn superheroes, I should be used to this by now,” he had muttered, as the med team started rushing to get Pietro to medical.

Now he was sat waiting outside the room where they were operating, trying to stabilise Pietro so he could be flown back to New York. Natasha and Tony were preparing a new quinjet for Clint to pilot. Wanda paced nearby, red energy twisting around her hands as she fretted over her brother’s fate. Clint didn’t know where everyone else was. And frankly, he didn’t care. All he cared about was Pietro getting through this. Because if he didn’t, it was his fault. He should have checked Pietro sooner, should have realised that with Hydra’s experiments Pietro might be able to survive that. He should have done _something_.

“Can you stop that?” Wanda asked, stopping her pacing to stare at Clint. He looked up at her, confused. “Blaming yourself. This isn’t your fault, Barton.”

“Isn’t it?” he replied. “He was saving my life-”

“Which was his choice, Barton. If you had died saving that child, would you want him to feel guilty for causing it?” Clint opened his mouth to protest some more, but Wanda cut him off. “And you can’t blame yourself because you didn’t check earlier, that would have made no difference. And you had no reason to believe he could survive that, _I_ didn’t believe he could survive that!” Clint open and closed his mouth silently a few times, before turning away and muttering,

“Stay out of my head.”

“Sorry, I’d just rather be out of my own right now.” Clint grunted, then winced as he remembered that this was her _brother_. He’d barely known Pietro, but Wanda had grown up with him, known him her whole life. He had no right to be here. He glanced up in time to see the panic flash across her face. “Don’t go,” she murmured. “I don’t think I can be alone right now.” He nodded, and after a moment of hesitation stood and pulled Wanda into a hug.

“M’sorry,” he murmured. Wanda shook her head against his chest, but he shushed her and clarified, “I’m not apologising this time, I’m offering condolences… I’m sorry about your brother. But the doctors in there are some of the best. And once they’ve stabilised him and we get him back to New York, back to the Tower, Dr Cho is the best. If anyone can save him, it’s her. He’s in good hands here, Wanda.” Wanda shook slightly against him, barely containing her sobs.

“I know he is, I just… I can’t lose him… Barton, I don’t know what to do without him…” The sobs broke free, Wanda’s tears soaking Clint’s front. He held her close, trying his best to comfort her without making false promises that Pietro would be okay. Because right now, there was no guarantee that that was the case. Right now, all they could be sure of was that Pietro was alive and in the best possible hands. Wanda’s hands knotted in his vest, and he tried to push away the surge of fear that she would lose control and tear him apart by accident. He’d been around superheroes long enough to know how things could go if they weren’t in control. And Wanda’s powers were significantly greater than anything he’d been exposed to before, with the possible exception of the Hulk. They were such different ballparks that it was hard to draw a comparison.

Wanda gave a tear-choked chuckle. “You’re safe, Barton. I’m not going to lose control. I already took that out on Ultron.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Good.”

“Although.. you might want to keep Stark away from me if Pietro doesn’t…” She swallowed, leaving the obvious unsaid.

“As long as you keep me off of Rogers. ‘Walk it off,’” he muttered bitterly. “Guy’s gonna end up with an arrow in his back if he keeps that shit up.”

Wanda laughed, still sniffling. She pushed away from Clint’s chest slightly and wiped at her eyes as she replied, “Deal.” Her smile was weak, and didn’t last long, but Clint still counted it as a win on the comforting front.

Someone coughed behind them, and Clint turned to see Steve standing awkwardly in the corridor, clearly having overheard Clint’s threat.

“Uh, sorry to uh, interrupt, just uh… Nat said to let you know that they’ve uh, the jet’s ready, so as soon as…” He jerked his head towards the door, and Clint nodded.

“Right. Thanks.”

“Uh, I’ll just uh…” He gestured over his shoulder, then practically fled the scene. Clint raised an eyebrow. He glanced at Wanda.

“Just how seriously did he take me?”

Wanda smiled weakly and gave him a playful push. “It wasn’t that it was more… He felt like he was intruding on us bonding. And I think he feels guilty about that comment.”

“Ah.” Clint glanced at the door. “How close d’you think they are?”

“I don’t know. I… I’m afraid to check.” Clint grimaced and squeezed Wanda’s shoulders sympathetically, his arm having remained around her since the moment he first hugged her. He looked at the seats next to the door. He didn’t even have to say anything, Wanda seeing his intention in his head as he began to guide her to them. They sat side by side, Wanda leaning against Clint’s side, his arm still around her shoulders.

They were silent for a few moments, and it was driving Clint crazy. So he asked, “Can you tell me about him?”

For a brief second Wanda tensed against Clint, but then she relaxed and began. “He’s amazing. He’s kind, and caring… He would do anything to keep me safe, and I’d do the same for him. We drive each other crazy at times, but at the end of the day… We have each other. For a long time that’s all we had. It’s the one thing that’s been constant in our lives.

“Sometimes, when we were kids, before our parents… They used to sit with us at bedtime, tell us stories… Like most parents do, I guess… They let us put characters in the stories, let us take control of the story… But they couldn’t do it every night. Sometimes they had to work, or one of them was ill, or… But they didn’t always have time for a bedtime story. So one night, I think we were about six, when they couldn’t… I was really struggling to sleep. I think Pietro was too, and he came up with the idea to start our own story. It was a really silly little story he told me, I can’t really remember it… But after that night, every time our parents couldn’t make it to bedtime… We took it in turns, the two of us… And after our parents… We kept it up, kept telling each other stories. Over the years we’ve stopped doing it every night, but any time one of us can’t sleep, we get the other to tell us a story…” Wanda sniffled, and reached up to brush away her tears. Clint stayed silent, unable to find the words to express his sympathy, both for the loss of her parents and for what she was currently going through. But he didn’t need to say it for Wanda to hear him, so she squeezed his knee and murmured, “Thanks.”

She started telling him more stories of her brother, sharing the things they’d done together, the times Pietro had protected her, the stupid things he’d talked her into, the things she’d talked him into, telling Clint anything and everything about her brother, helping him understand just how important her brother was to her. Clint stayed silent throughout, allowing her free rein, not pressing any queries on her, although sometimes she heard them anyway and answered without him having to say a word.

They’d been sat there for well over an hour, and Wanda was just gearing up to confess something that had been nagging at her since she first discovered Ultron’s true plan, something that made the pain even worse for her. She’d already tried to lay the blame on herself earlier, but it went deeper than she’d conveyed. As she was about to share these depths, the door next to them opened. Wanda broke off mid-sentence and they scrambled to their feet, turning to face the doctor who stepped out. They looked up with fearful eyes, terrified of what they’d be told. The doctor was clearly exhausted, they’d been working for hours, but on seeing Clint and Wanda’s fear she mustered a small smile. Relief flooded the anxious pair, shoulders sagging before the doctor had even opened her mouth.

“He’s stable, and he should be good to travel. Hopefully he’ll stay that way until you can get him to Doctor Cho. They’re just getting ready to wheel him to your jet.” Clint nodded, a smile beginning to creep onto his face.

“Okay, thank you doctor. Wanda, d’you wanna wait here, come along with your brother, I should head off now, make my flight preparations…”

“You’re flying?” the doctor asked, surprise in her tone. Clint just smiled at her and ran off, heading to the jet. No one was going to talk him out of this, no matter how rough his day had been.

Steve was stood by the hanger door, talking to Fury, and the rest of the Avengers were scattered in and around the quinjet. Thor and Vision stood next to it, talking. Natasha was curled in the co-pilot’s chair, while Rhodey sat to one side with Tony, softly talking to the genius. They all looked up when Clint entered. Clint clapped Steve on the shoulder as he passed.

“Pietro’s stable. Once he and Wanda arrive it’ll be wheels up in five.” He headed straight onto the jet, dropping smoothly into the pilot’s seat. Natasha stretched beside him, uncurling herself and getting ready for the twins arrival. Thor and Vision boarded the jet, and Clint could hear Steve and Fury’s footsteps approaching.

“Barton, are you sure you’re up for this?” Steve queried.

“Captain, you know if I wasn’t I’d be asking someone else. And when it comes to being in the right state to fly, I’m pretty sure you don’t have a leg to stand on.” He tried to smirk, but it felt forced.

“Haven’t heard that one before,” Steve muttered dryly as he stowed his shield. Fury stopped at the entrance to the quinjet.

“Doctor Cho’s just landed at the Tower, Falcon’s helping her get set up and getting everything ready for your return. I believe Miss Potts is also enroute to help.” Tony gave a tired cheer at the prospect of Pepper being there to greet them.

It wasn’t long before Pietro was wheeled in and quickly secured in the jet. Wanda took a seat next to him, holding his hand. Tony darted into another seat, putting as much space between himself and the twins. You didn’t need superpowers to feel the guilt radiating off him. Wanda glanced up at Rhodey, knowing he was best equipped to sort Tony out. Rhodey switched seats to talk softly to Tony as the jet took off.


	2. Home

Sam, Pepper and Doctor Cho were all waiting to greet them when they landed at the Tower. Steve helped Wanda and Doctor Cho get Pietro off the jet, then turned to clap Sam on the shoulder while Wanda and Doctor Cho escorted Pietro down to medical, accompanied by Vision. Sam looked at the grimace on Steve’s face as they gripped each other’s shoulders, and grimaced back.

“That bad, huh?” he murmured, mindful of the other Avengers disembarking. Clint, as usual, was taking his time making sure everything was in order before he left the jet.

“Worse,” Steve replied.

Sam winced. He raised his voice slightly so everyone could hear him as he asked, “Anyone for takeout?” He couldn’t hide his grin at the hopeful and longing noises that statement produced. “Should be here in fifteen minutes, so you’ve got time to shower or whatever before it gets here.”

“Wilson, I could kiss you,” Tony said, turning away from where he had been hugging Pepper.

“That’s my job!” Clint called from the cockpit, just finishing up his final checks. When he emerged a minute later, Sam was the only person still waiting for him. He hopped down from the jet and approached his boyfriend. Sam smiled and pulled Clint close, kissing him softly. But he noticed fairly quick that something was on Clint’s mind.

“Clint, honey? What’s wrong? Other than the obvious,” he tried to joke a little at the end, but it came out flat. Clint leant back slightly, chewing his lip as he looked at Sam. Laura’s ultimatum weighed heavily in his mind, but he didn’t know how to say it, and now just didn’t feel right. But the time would probably never feel right, so he sucked in a deep breath and tried to find the words.

“There’s something I need to tell you about… something I probably should have told you about months ago but I…” He shook himself, steeling himself for what was to come. But Sam pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him. Clint shot his boyfriend a questioning look.

“You’ve just come back from a very stressful mission, you’re tired, and you clearly don’t know how to say whatever it is you need to tell me. So for now, let’s just let it go. You need to rest, you need food, and no offence Princess, but you _really_ need a shower. Tomorrow you can think this over and come talk to me when you’re ready. I mean, I assume it’s not desperately urgent, right?” Sam smiled at Clint, and the archer released a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I guess it can wait until tomorrow. But it is important, and it’s definitely something I need to tell you soon.” Sam nodded, and pressed a kiss to Clint’s lips.

“Go on, go shower, I’ll finish setting up for dinner. I ordered your favourite pizza.” Clint grinned, and stole one final kiss before disappearing towards his bathroom. Sam smiled as he watched his boyfriend leave, trying to stifle the knot of worry in his stomach. Whatever it was Clint needed to tell him, it sounded pretty serious. And it seemed like Clint was afraid of how he’d react, which implied it was something…

Sam shook himself, heading inside to finish setting up for dinner. It wouldn’t do to follow that chain of thought and get himself stressed about this. Pepper was clearing the table and looked up at him in surprise.

“Not joining your boyfriend in the shower? How long’s it been since you two were together?” He opened his mouth to reply, but she halted him by adding, “And don’t say it was at that party because I have it on good authority that you got called away early, and barely got any time with Clint.”

Sam grimaced. “Yeah, I guess we didn’t. And before then… A couple of weeks, maybe?”

“So why aren’t you with him now? I mean, I saw the way you were fretting earlier, worrying about him, so why not make the most of your time with him?”

“Well why aren’t you with Tony?” Sam said, feeling a little defensive. He would have loved to join Clint in the shower, but with Clint freaking out over this important thing he needed to share, it hadn’t felt right. Pepper’s only response was to put a hand on her hip and glare at him. After a moment he caved and told her, “Something’s bothering Clint, something he needs to tell me but doesn’t know how to. So I’m giving him a little space to figure it out and he’ll tell me tomorrow.”

“Sounds serious. You okay?” Pepper turned back to give the table one last wipe-down, ready for the plates and cutlery Sam was fetching.

“I’d rather not think about it, I’ll just stress myself out.”

“Fair enough.” They kept working in silence, making sure the table was ready for food and that there were enough seats for everyone. When the call came through that the food had arrived they stopped and turned to look at each other.

“I’ll get the food, you get the heroes?” Sam suggested, and Pepper nodded once before dropping the last cushion into place. She headed towards Steve’s room first, while Sam went to the elevator. It was strange having to actually press the button, where normally he’d just ask JARVIS, but he was glad Tony had had the foresight to include buttons anyway. He didn’t like the idea of taking the stairs down, even if it was only the six floors between the Avenger’s main floor and the highest floor accessible by the standard elevator. He wasn’t completely sure what had happened to JARVIS, the information he’d got from Fury and Hill was a little shaky on that detail, but he was pretty sure Tony would be getting a lecture from Pepper about reckless treatment of artificial intelligence pretty soon. He was probably due that lecture anyway, if Sam’s understanding of Ultron’s origins was correct.

He collected the food, suddenly wishing he’d asked Pepper to come with him when he realised just how much there was, and loaded it into the elevator, just about managing to find room to stand without stepping on any takeout. On the way up he grimaced at the thought of trying to get it all out, but when the doors slid open he was met by a grinning supersoldier and a Norse god.

“Need a hand?” Steve laughed, taking in the sight of all the takeout boxes stacked around Sam’s legs. They’d ordered from three different takeouts, as was often necessary when trying to feed exhausted superheroes, and somehow they’d all delivered within a few minutes of each other.

“You need to ask?” Sam replied, gesturing to the sea of takeout he was almost waist-deep in. “I can barely move in here. Whose idea was it for the elevator to open on the other side up here?” Steve reached forward to pick up some of the food from in front of Sam. When he moved out of the way, Thor stepped in to take some more, leaving Sam a clear path to leave with another stack. There was still more on the elevator floor, which Pepper and Natasha went to fetch while they started setting the food out. Tony gave a small cheer when he entered and recognised some of the boxes as his favourite Chinese. Pepper smiled at him.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t order your Chinese?” she asked as Tony started scooping sweet and sour pork and chicken fried rice onto a plate.

“Well, given that I just almost caused an apocalypse…” Pepper cut him off with a sharp look. She slipped an arm around him and spoke softly, her voice not quite carrying across to Sam’s ears. Steve’s ears were a little sharper though, and he looked almost ready to argue, but Sam caught his attention and shook his head. Tony had messed up, sure, but now was not the time to play the blame game. They were all exhausted, and hungry, and emotionally worn down. Tony would get his lecture, but later, when it wasn’t going to turn into a massive argument that would only make things worse.

Steve left it, much to Sam’s relief, and instead started investigating the different pizza toppings, taking a slice from almost all the choices. Sam peeked at the ones he left and raised an eyebrow.

“Not a mushroom fan, huh? Thought you ate practically anything.” Steve pulled a face.

“Just ‘cause I eat a lot, doesn’t mean I’ll eat anything. And mushrooms are just… weird.” Sam gasped in mock offense.

“Blasphemy!” he cried, trying to hold his serious expression as he scooped up a slice of mushroom pizza. Watching Steve’s smile from the corner of his eye, he began addressing the pizza, saying, “Don’t listen to the nasty man, I think you’re wonderful.” He took a large bite of the slice, making a show of how much he enjoyed it. Steve shook his head, smile dancing across his face. Sam grinned back at him.

“Might wanna watch yourself there Wilson, your Hawk might get jealous if he sees you flirting with your pizza. That is, assuming you guys don’t break up when he –”

“Stark!” Steve barked sharply as Sam’s eye-roll morphed into a shocked expression. Steve glanced at Sam. “I’m guessing Clint hasn’t…”

“He said there’s something he needs to talk to me about, but since it seemed pretty serious I said it could wait until tomorrow. You guys all… You know what it is?” Sam swallowed as Steve, Thor, Natasha and Tony all nodded. “Well cram it. Let Clint tell me in his own time, in his own way.” He couldn’t help a sidelong glance at Nat though, panic beginning to flare up in his chest. Natasha’s expression was unreadable, but she took pity on Sam when she saw the panic in his eyes.

“I won’t spoil anything for you, but I don’t think you need to worry about a break-up. It might take you some time to work through it, but you’ll get through.” A slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she added, “Unless I’ve misjudged you, in which case you will regret hurting Clint.” Sam laughed nervously, turning back to his pizza to avoid Natasha’s gaze. Pepper raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

“Isn’t it getting a bit late in the relationship for the shovel talk?” she teased.

“Nat’s already given me two shovel talks, and I’ve had them from Steve and Tony as well. Hell, even Bruce sort of gave me one. Something about the other guy needing time to adjust to a new ally, and getting confused if I hurt someone who’s already counted as an ally.”

“But I’m betting he said it in that cute, flustered way of his where he’s not trying to be threatening, there’s just no other way of phrasing it,” Tony said, smirking when Sam confirmed it. Tony’s smile faltered after a moment and he said, “I miss him already.” Murmurs of agreement were passed around the room, which then fell silent for a few minutes, everyone turning to their food.

Things didn’t perk up again in the room until Rhodey wandered in from his shower, calling out, “Y’all better not have eaten all the food already!”

Tony smirked, and leaned his head back to watch Rhodey come in, upside down. “Aw, Honeybear, if you wanted to eat, you should’ve showered faster.” Steve snorted.

“I know me and Thor have big appetites, but I don’t think even we could get through this amount of food in five minutes. Sam was practically drowning in it in the elevator.”

Rhodey rounded the end of the couch and whistled appreciatively as he saw the mountains of food stacked on and around the coffee table. “Wow, you guys really went all out on this. I don’t even wanna think about the bill for all this food. You really think we need this much?”

“Well weren’t exactly sure how many we needed to feed, and folks with superpowers tend to have large appetites, and since we were told you might be bringing some additional supers home…” Sam began.

“And we weren’t quite sure how bad the boy, uh Pietro is it? We didn’t know how bad his injuries were and if there was a chance Doctor Cho might be able to fix him up quick enough to join us. He’ll probably have a massive appetite after she’s through with him,” Pepper finished.

Tony grinned up at Rhodey. “And it’s not as if I can’t afford it. And any leftovers can be saved for later or distributed throughout the Tower.” Rhodey rolled his eyes in response as he grabbed a plate and starting piling it with food. As he pulled the last slice out of one of the pizza boxes, Sam started scanning the table, checking the pizza that was left against what he thought he’d ordered. Natasha followed his gaze and smiled at him as worry began to cloud his expression.

“Don’t worry Falcon, I put a couple of boxes aside for Clint. He always takes forever.” Sam grinned back at her, relaxing slightly in the knowledge that his boyfriend wouldn’t be disappointed. “It was sweet of you to order his favourite. Although it looks like you got everyone’s favourite. Didn’t even have JARVIS to tell you what they were.”

“Well after what you’ve been through, you deserve it,” Sam said, in the same instant as Tony blurted,

“Oh, that reminds me, I need to get FRIDAY set up here.” He started trying to stand up, clearly intending to go do it straight away, but Rhodey and Pepper both pulled him down again.

“Not now, Tony,” Rhodey ordered.

“You can do that later,” Pepper assured him. “Right now, you need to eat, and then you’re going to bed. You’ve had a rough few days, and just how long has it been since you last slept?” Tony bit his lip and looked down, and in the silence that followed JARVIS’ absence felt more prominent than ever. After a moment, Tony realised that he was actually expected to answer that this time, and he furrowed his brow, thinking hard.

“Uh, I dunno… I think I got a few hours in at… after Johannesburg, but that was pretty broken up… not really restful… and I had a power nap on the way to Sokovia… But if we’re talking a proper, decent night’s sleep, then not since before Ultron.” There was a collective wince around the table at that revelation, despite most of them being used to Tony’s erratic sleeping habits. Tony grimaced and added, “Okay, point taken. Food, sleep, _then_ install FRIDAY. Gotcha.”

Silence filled the air for the next few minutes, until it was suddenly shattered by the ding of the elevator. Always a little on edge in the aftermath of such a strenuous fight, the Avengers present all exhibited the briefest flinch or tensing of shoulders. Even Thor reacted, the grip on his chopsticks briefly tensing. But the noise gave them sufficient warning that they were not surprised, and hence were able to overcome the instinct that drove them to defend themselves by attacking the intruder.

Sam turned to watch the doors open, revealing the two individuals who had been unfamiliar to him when they exited the jet. He was aware that the seemingly male entity was referred to as Vision, though he had no clue what it – he? – was, and the red-headed girl who padded nervously into the room he believed was called Wanda.

Wanda’s gaze flitted across the obscene amount of food piled on and around the table. She felt utterly lost, out of place. Doctor Cho had encouraged her to head upstairs and have some food, given that it would take some time for Pietro to recover. Vision had accompanied her, the semi-organic android having determined that some food, if not as much as a human might eat, was required to ‘sustain optimum performance’. Wanda hesitated, uncertain, as Vision walked past her, moving around most of the group and seating himself next to Thor. Wanda felt the twinge of regret and loss that gripped Stark as Vision came into his view. The woman next to him, the one who’d met them off the jet, squeezed his shoulders sympathetically, despite her buried anger blaming Stark. Wanda glanced at each of the Avengers, gauging their reactions to Vision joining them and trying to figure out if she would be welcome. She ignored the man who was still watching her. She didn’t know him. It disappointed her a little that Barton had not joined the group yet, since he was the one she felt most comfortable with. She stretched out her mind, searching for him, and was surprised by how close she found him. Electing not to pry into why he seemed so uncertain about joining his friends, instead Wanda stepped forward slightly, moving into his line of sight, and shot a panicked look in his direction. He was hidden in the shadows, so she couldn’t see him, but he saw her.

Clint started to move into the room before he’d even figured out why Wanda looked so panicked. Once he realised though, he called out to her, “C’mon Wanda, you must be starving! Sammy, budge along a bit and make room will ya? You fuckers better’ve saved me some good pizza,” he warned as he spotted the stack of empty pizza boxes. Natasha rolled her eyes and pointed wordlessly to where she’d stashed extra pizza for Clint. “Awesome, thanks Nat!” Clint collected his pizza and gently nudged Wanda towards the sofa. “Wanda, this is Sam. Sam, Wanda.” Clint manoeuvred Wanda between himself and Sam, glad of the barrier. He ignored the brief flash of hurt that darted across Sam’s face, and the look of mild surprise that showed Wanda was aware of that, but not prying. He was glad of that consideration. “So Wanda, how’s your brother?” He grimaced. He hadn’t meant it to come out so blunt. There were winces around the table at Clint’s tactlessness.

“He’s… It’ll take a long time, and there’s still a lot that could go wrong, but Doctor Cho seems optimistic. I’m not losing him just yet.” On feeling the genuine relief and cheer this statement evoked from those around her, Wanda felt the need to hide her tearful smile. Such kindness from people she’d only too recently been fighting against (and two complete strangers), coupled with the emotional torture she’d already experienced that day, left her feeling a little overwhelmed. She tried to be as subtle as possible as she dabbed at her eyes, and thankfully no one commented. Clint nudged her gently.

“C’mon, you should eat. Fight like that takes a lot outta ya, and that’s without taking into account telekinetic powers which presumably require extra energy. I cannot believe how normal that sentence sounds to me these days.” There were a few chuckles around the table agreeing with that sentiment, and Wanda smiled weakly as she looked around the table. She hadn’t felt so unsure of herself in years. There was so much food, so much choice, and part of her couldn’t help feeling suspicious, like it would all be snatched away the moment she tried to take some. She felt so out of place.

Steve noticed the uncertainty on Wanda’s face as she looked at all the food, and felt a surge of sympathy for her. Back when he first arrived in this Century, he would have been very shocked by such an excessive spread too, having been used to army rations, and before that to just barely being affording enough food to scrape by. He smiled kindly at Wanda.

“Seems pretty excessive, huh? You get used to it after a while… Although even for us, this is a bit much.” Pepper, also having picked up on Wanda’s discomfort, gave Tony a sharp nudge to stop him saying something stupid in response. It took Clint a moment to get it, brain a little sluggish now he didn’t need to focus, but then he grimaced.

“Right, of course, you’re not exactly-” Natasha cut him off with a sharp thump to the knee, and he scrunched his face up as he tried to think his next words through. “Look, no one’s gonna take any of this away, Wanda. You can eat as much as you like. You don’t have to worry about any of… _that_ ,” he trusted her to either understand or read his mind here, “And when your brother recovers, he’ll get the same. You’re Avengers now, the pair of you. We look after our own.” There was a collective groan at Clint’s unsolicited addition to the team, which he ignored. “’Sides, you really gonna pass up free food?” he taunted, plucking a container of Thai chicken of off the table and waggling it in front of Wanda. She glared at him and raised her hand. But instead of taking the box in front of her, she levitated one of the unopened containers of Chinese from next to Tony’s knee across the table into her lap. Clint grinned at her. “Suit yourself,” he shrugged, digging into the Thai food himself.

Most of the meal was spent in a companionable silence, with odd moments of chatter interspersed. As usual Steve was the first to start nodding off at the table, but he made no move to head to bed until Natasha pushed him aside so she could go to bed. Jostled out of position, and with Natasha having made the decision it was acceptable to leave now, Steve dragged himself off the sofa and bade everyone good night. Sam looked him up and down and asked,

“Are you gonna be up for a run tomorrow?”

Steve grinned back and said, “Always. Maybe I’ll be tired enough for you keep up this time though.” His cheeky demeanour was spoilt somewhat by the yawn that punctuated the end of his sentence, and he missed Sam’s response of flipping him off.

Tony gave a little whine as he looked around at the dirty dishes and the takeout containers that ranged from completely empty to barely touched. He was exhausted, but he hated leaving such a disordered mess – especially one so liable to smell – until the morning. Pepper kissed his head fondly.

“Wilson and I will tidy this up, don’t worry Tony. Go sleep, you need it.” She gave him a gentle nudge to get him moving, and with a pointed look she prompted Rhodey to make sure Tony actually went to bed. As Pepper began sorting through the mess, Rhodey started guiding Tony towards the steps, tugging insistently on his arm when the genius paused to look back at Wanda.

As he opened his mouth she cut him off, saying, “I’m going to head downstairs, Doctor Cho said she’d set up a bed for me in Pietro’s room. I’ll sleep better with him close-by.” Tony looked a little disgruntled that she’d read his mind, but he allowed Rhodey to steer him upstairs. Thor left quite soon after, thanking Pepper and Sam for the food, and Vision decided to accompany Wanda back downstairs. This left Sam and Clint on the sofa while Pepper took some of the leftovers through to the kitchen. Sam nudged Clint gently.

“You should probably go get some sleep too, Princess. I should, uh… I should help Pepper with all…” He made a vague gesture encompassing the remnants of the meal.

“Uh, yeah, I guess you should… An’ I should… But, when you’re done… You’ll come join me?” Clint was nervous as he asked, unsure if Sam would be willing with the secret looming over their heads. Sam smiled at him, and leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Of course I’ll join you. Not sure I can sleep without my Princess after worrying about you all day.” He pressed another kiss to Clint’s lips before drawing back to see the sappy grin plastered across Clint’s face. He waved Clint off towards the bedroom. “Go on, go to bed. I’ll join you as soon as Pepper and I get this mess sorted.”

Pepper re-entered the room at the same time as Clint left it, and headed over to help Sam with the rest of the mess.

“Things looking okay with you two then?” she asked.

“For the moment,” Sam replied, biting his lip as he tried not to worry about the next day. Pepper smiled reassuringly and told him,

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She then let the subject lie, their only further conversation being that which was necessary to co-ordinate the clean-up operation. When they were down to just a few mostly-empty takeout boxes left, Pepper looked up at Sam and said, “I can finish up here, why don’t you go join Clint?”

“You don’t want to hurry off and join Tony?”

“Tony will already be asleep if Rhodey knows what’s good for him.” Sam laughed.

“Thanks Pepper. Night.”

“Night, Sam.” Pepper shook her head, smiling, as Sam jogged from the room.

Clint was almost asleep when Sam crept into the room, tip-toeing through to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He was slightly more awake when Sam emerged again, the sound of the tap having been enough to wake him, and he stretched his arms out. Sam slipped his jeans off before allowing himself to be pulled into the bed, Clint snuggling up to him. Sam pressed a kiss to Clint’s head and burrowed down into the warmth of the bed, trying to push away his sense of foreboding.


	3. The Secret

Sam woke with a groan. It had been one of those nights where despite being asleep for almost eight straight hours, he felt like he hadn’t slept at all. At least this time he was pretty confident of the reason why. Despite Natasha’s assurance that he had nothing to worry about, he couldn’t help being terrified that he was about to lose Clint. Whatever this thing was that Clint needed to tell him, apparently should have told him already, it was clearly something big. Something that Clint was scared shitless about sharing with Sam. And that fact had Sam scared shitless about what it could mean for their relationship.

Sam pressed one arm across his forehead, the other holding Clint against his side. Sam looked down at his boyfriend, idly running his fingers back and forth along Clint’s arm. He brought his other arm down and brushed back the archer’s hair, smiling at the sight of his sleeping boyfriend’s face. He loved Clint so much. And he really hoped he’d get the chance to tell him that, but from what Stark had said, they might be breaking up later. At the very least, he had to consider the possibility that whatever Clint needed to tell him would put enough of a wedge between them to make Sam reconsider his feelings. Based on Clint’s description of it as something he should’ve shared months ago, then being angry at him, feeling betrayed or hurt, or finding himself doubting Clint, having trouble trusting him, were all reasonable possibilities that Sam hated to consider.

Sam glanced across at the clock, and with a sigh began extricating himself from the bed sheets and Clint’s embrace. Cap would be up and about soon, wanting to get running. Sam dressed as quietly as he could, hoping to let Clint sleep a while longer. Before he crept from the room, he tucked the blankets around his boyfriend and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“See you later, Princess,” he murmured, the ‘I love you’ getting stuck in his throat, as usual. As soon as the door shut behind him, Clint opened his eyes, all pretence of sleep gone. He’d been awake for well over an hour, going over scenarios in his head, trying to find the best way to tell Sam. And doing everything he could to ignore the image of Pietro, multiple bullet wounds torn through his body, blood soaking through his shirt, collapsed on the ground in front of Clint. That image seemed to be burned onto his eyelids, haunting him as he slept.

Clint hugged the blankets close around him, a faint smile playing across his lips. Without fail, every time Sam left to run with Steve after spending the night, he tucked Clint in. Always with the kiss and the murmured goodbye, regardless of whether Clint was awake or not. For a moment, Clint could pretend that things were still the same, that things were great. Then the reality of the conversation due came crashing down again, forcing a sigh out of Clint. He was kidding himself if he thought things would still be fine by the end of the day. He’d kept a huge part of his life secret from Sam for so long, and as his conversations with Steve and Laura had proved, there was no reasonable excuse for the secrecy. There was no way of phrasing it, no way for Clint to share it without hurting the love of his life.

He winced as he pushed himself up, all the aches and pains from the previous days’ activities making themselves known. Gritting his teeth, he stretched, and started looking around for his own clothes. With everything that had happened, he was perfectly entitled to spend the morning in bed, but with a potentially relationship-ending secret looming over him, staying in bed was the last thing he wanted to do. He looked over at the clock and tried to estimate when Sam might get back. Then he tried to figure out what to do with himself while he waited. He didn’t want to just sit around and wait for Sam, but what was there that he could do instead? He needed to be active, watching TV wouldn’t be enough… a video game? No, he needed to be able to think over his strategy for later… The conversation had to happen today, no question. Although Laura had only said not to come back until he’d told Sam, with his own assertion that he’d tell Sam ‘as soon as the current crisis is over’ Clint felt uneasy about calling her to check in before he’d done so. Which meant Clint needed to tell Sam today, as soon as he could. So he needed an activity that would keep him busy and active, but through which he could strategize, prepare himself for the storm. Preferably something that would have him out of the way when Sam got back so his boyfriend could shower in peace beforehand.

_Aw, shit_ , Clint cursed himself, seeing only one option ahead. With a groan, he stretched once more and left the bedroom. _I’m gonna regret this_ , he thought miserably as he headed for the gym.

\- - - - 

Sam met up with Steve in the elevator, and the pair left the tower together. He was able to keep up with Steve at first, the supersoldier reining himself in until they reached the park. Once there, he started to let himself go, gradually building up speed. Sam wasn’t going all out himself, and knew he could have kept up for a little while if he tried. But the uncertainty surrounding his future with Clint was weighing him down, like a lead weight dragging behind him. Not long after Steve had disappeared from view, Sam’s pace began to slow. By the time he began to hear Steve’s approach from behind, he’d slowed to a walk, but he forced himself to put on a front for Steve. He didn’t actually succeed in speeding up, but his gait changed to that of a jog.

_Come on, hurry up_ , Sam thought in irritation, _Just get it over with_. It seemed to take forever for Steve to finally draw near. Perhaps the supersoldier really was tired out from the previous day. Sam grimaced, unsure how long he could keep up the pretence. He wasn’t even sure why he was bothering.

Gradually, Steve’s footsteps drew closer, until finally…

“On your left.”

Normally Sam would try to speed up when he heard those words, he’d push himself in spite of knowing he could never keep up. But today he just didn’t have it in him, and his shoulders sagged as soon as Steve was past him. He dropped the façade, head drooping and hands returning to his pockets. He didn’t notice Steve glance back at him, didn’t recognise the halting of Steve’s footfalls, would have walked straight into solid muscle if Steve hadn’t placed a hand on his shoulder and jolted him from his ruminations.

“Sam? Are you okay?”

Sam blinked up at him. “I… I have no idea.” He looked up at Steve’s concerned frown.

“Is this about Clint? I didn’t think he’d tell you this early…”

“He hasn’t, he was still sleeping when I left, or maybe faking I can never tell… But just knowing there’s something… And no one seems quite sure how I’ll respond, which has me even _more_ worried, and I just… Steve, I love Clint, and I’m just so scared that today’s gonna… that we’ll fall apart after this.”

“So you guys are using the l-word now?” Steve began, but Sam cut him off.

“I haven’t said it yet. I try, every morning, but it always sticks in my throat. I may never get to tell him now.”

“No, don’t- don’t talk like that. You guys are gonna be fine, you’ll get through this. Sure, it might be kind of a shock, you might get pissed at him, but…”

“I’m gonna be angry?” Sam interrupted, eyes wide. “Why will I be angry, what’s he – no, don’t tell me, don’t… don’t spoil it. He’ll tell me soon, when he’s ready… Ugh, I just wish he hadn’t said anything yesterday…” He grimaced, hand reaching up to press at his forehead. Steve slung an arm across his shoulders.

“Clint knows he has to tell you soon, if he hadn’t mentioned anything, you’d probably have noticed that something was off and now you’d be panicking over even less information. Or Stark would have put his foot in it anyway over dinner. Either way, things wouldn’t be any better.” He squeezed Sam’s shoulders. “I’m here for you if things… If you need someone to talk to after. But for now, just try and think about something else. He’s probably expecting you to be out a while, d’you wanna keep running?”

Sam took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. “Maybe… You really think me and Clint will be okay?”

“Yeah, I do. You guys are great together, and both of you seem pretty upset by the idea of this coming between you, so I feel confident that you’ll work it out. Hell, I’m more worried about Tony and Pepper breaking up than you and Clint.”

“Oh you’re ‘worried’ about that are you? Even though that would give you an opening with Stark?” Sam grinned across at Steve, breaking into a slight jog to avoid Steve’s retaliatory shove.

“C’mon Sam, I told you, it was just a crush, I’m over it now. I just don’t wanna see Tony get hurt, especially by someone he trusts so much.” Steve caught up quickly, deliberately jostling Sam as he said, “On your left, pigeon.”

“Oh, _hell_ no.” Sam put on a burst of speed, chasing down the laughing supersoldier. “You get your spangly ass back here, Rogers!” Seeing the path bend left ahead, he ducked between the trees, using the short cut to catch up. He pulled in front with a triumphant, “On _your_ left, Dorito!” It wasn’t long before Steve was passing him again, this time saying, “On your right, sprite.” They continued their run in this fashion, Steve holding back just enough to give Sam a chance of passing him, knowing the game would keep his mind off the coming conversation with Clint.

\- - - - 

Clint grunted as he was flipped over Natasha’s hip, but managed to roll away and back to his feet in time to block her next kick, grabbing her calf and trying to flip her. He ducked as she swung her other leg up to trap his neck and he used her momentum to bring her to the ground. Before he had a chance to pin her, she was on her feet again, putting distance between them as she plotted her next move. They circled slowly, eyes calculating as each waited for an opening in the others defence.

Natasha had already been in the gym when Clint came down to pass the time, trying to banish her internal demons with the help of the punching bag. On Clint’s arrival she knocked the bag from its hook with a kick, and nodded towards the sparring mats. Clint had nodded in response, warming up while Natasha had a drink and wiped the sweat from her brow. Barely a word had passed between them since then, both preferring to spar in silence.

Natasha was the first to strike, waiting until the sun peeking through the window hit Clint’s eyes, and using his momentary blindness to get in close. She grabbed his arm as it came up in a belated attempt to block her and dragged it down, swinging her leg around his back to push him onto the mat. Clint grunted as his arm was pulled up and twisted painfully. Nat planted her foot between Clint’s shoulder blades to emphasise her victory, then stepped back to let him up, smirking as he rolled his shoulder.

“Okay, that was unnecessary,” he whined, bringing his other hand up to massage it. Natasha just continued to smirk and tossed a bottle at him. He flinched back and tried to grab it, juggling it slightly before it dropped onto his toe. He looked down at it for a moment and pouted. As he bent to retrieve it Natasha looked over at the clock.

“It’s almost eight, your boyfriend’ll be back soon. You should probably go clean up.”

Clint looked over his shoulder to check, and let out a groan. “I still have no idea how I’m gonna do this.”

“It can’t be that hard, Sam seems like he’d be great with kids.”

“It’s not the ‘I have two kids’ that’s the problem, it’s the ‘when I thought you rejected me I fucked my ex-wife and now we’re having a third kid’ that has me worried. I know we weren’t actually together at the time, but I still feel like I cheated on him, and Laura being pregnant from that just… He’s gonna hate me for that, I know he is.” Clint sighed, looking down at his feet. “But it’s this or not be allowed to see my kids anymore, so I don’t really have a choice.”

“Well, I guess you are fucked then, aren’t you?” Natasha said dryly.

Clint threw a towel at her. “I swear, you’re as bad as Stark sometimes. I gotta go shower…” he turned to leave then hesitated, and turned back to ask, “Can I shower on your floor? That way I won’t have to confront Sam until he’s had a chance to shower.”

“Sure.” As Clint began to leave Natasha called out, “And I take that comment about Stark as a compliment!”

Clint flipped her off over his shoulder.

\- - - - 

Sam stepped out of the elevator and immediately called out for Clint. “Princess? You up here? I come bearing pastries!” There was no response, either from Clint or an AI. “Guess Stark’s still sleeping,” Sam muttered as he headed to the kitchen. The lack of AI in the Tower was creepy, which in itself was a perturbing thought. He left the pastries on the kitchen counter and, having eaten his on the walk back with Steve, headed to the bathroom to shower.

After stepping out of the shower, he heard a loud thump as he reached for his towel. He frowned, tensing, but then came the faint, “Aw, table,” and he grinned. Knowing it was just Clint being his clumsy self, he wrapped the towel around his waist and headed into the bedroom to dress. As he was rifling through his underwear drawer to find a matching pair of socks there was a soft tap at the door.

“Yeah?” he called.

“Hey, um, you’ve eaten already, right?”

“Yeah, did you see the pastries I left you?”

“Uh-huh, they were great, thanks… Um, so when you’re uh… When you’re ready, um… I’ll be waiting in the uh, the study, and uh… we can, we can have that… Just, just come through when you’re ready.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit,” Sam called, already hearing the retreating footsteps. Worry began to flood his chest again, making it difficult to breathe for a moment. Clint had been trying to sound casual, but Sam wasn’t fooled. Clint was scared, and that made Sam terrified. He staggered back, knees folding the moment the bed appeared behind them. It took him several minutes to get his breathing under control, and then he looked blankly at the bundle of odd socks clenched in his fist. Swallowing, he made a decision. He needed to get this over with, whatever this was. For Clint’s sake as much as his own.

After a final deep breath, he threw all but two of the socks at the open drawer, no longer caring if they matched. He grabbed the first pair of boxers, first shirt and first jeans that he found and dressed in record time.

He didn’t hesitate until he was right outside the door to the study. He swallowed, and took several more deep breaths. _We’ll get through this_ , he thought, _Whatever happens now, we’ll be okay in the end, it’ll be fine. We’ll get through this._

He pushed the door open and a weak smile fell into place when he saw Clint, sat at the table he’d dragged into the centre of the room, with his hair sticking up at the back and an ice pack strapped to his shoulder. His hands were resting on the table in front of him, fiddling with something small and covering what appeared to be a small stack of photographs.

Sam slid into the chair opposite Clint. There was silence for a moment. So he asked, “Natasha get a bit rough?” gesturing at the ice pack. Clint nodded. Silence fell again. Clint took a deep breath. The small object slipped from his fingers. It rolled across the table to Sam. Sam blinked. “Your wedding ring? Is this… Does this have to do with your ex-wife?”

The tension suddenly dropped from Clint’s shoulders and he nodded. “Yeah, it is. ‘Cause uh… Well, we were married for a while, and we uh…We had… kids.” He didn’t dare look up to see Sam’s reaction yet. “We had a boy, his name’s Cooper, and uh…” He fumbled with the photographs for a moment, dropping the picture of Cooper onto the table. At the edge of his vision he saw Sam’s shaking fingers pick it up. “And after, after Cooper, we had… we had a girl, Lila.” Another photograph on the table. He stared down at the last, the ultrasound, and his voice stuck slightly. “And then… We uh… Me an’ Laura… After Lila… She was 3 when we… But a few months back… There’s nothing there but… Neither of us was in a good place…” He forced himself to meet Sam’s gaze as he blurted out, “Laura’s pregnant again,” and revealed the ultrasound.

The silence returned, heavier and more expectant. The tension crept back into Clint’s shoulders as he watched Sam, the latter staring at the ultrasound image. The images of Cooper and Lila slipped from his fingers as he stared at the final photograph. Clint swallowed, becoming more tense with every second Sam was silent. When he finally broke the silence, his voice came out as a nervous squeak.

“Sammy?”

Slowly Sam raised his head, his expression forcibly neutral as he looked at Clint.

“Clint. What. The. Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it's taken so long to update this, I've been struggling with depression and had no motivation to write for several months. But I'm getting better now, and I've managed to pump this out. Finally Clint has revealed his family to Sam! I'll try not to leave it so long to update, but who knows how much writing I'll manage in the coming weeks and months.


End file.
